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CRAIG BASSEFrank De Meis was so proud of his adopted country that he always carried an American flag in his pocket.
ST. PETERSBURG - The last World War I veteran at Bay Pines VA Medical Center has died. Frank De Meis, an Italian immigrant wounded for America, was 106.
Mr. De Meis, a patient at the medical center's nursing home for four years, died Wednesday (Feb. 18, 2004) under hospice care.
His death came a little more than a month after that of a Bay Pines buddy, Alfred R. Pugh, also a veteran of the "Great War." He died Jan. 7 at 108.
Of the nearly 4.5-million Americans who served in World War I, the Veterans Administration estimates fewer than 300 remain.
So proud of his adopted country that he always carried an American flag in his pocket, Mr. De Meis also held fast to his natural heritage. He frequently wore a cap with the colors of Italy: green, white and red.
Until Sunday he had been in generally good health, his daughter, Esther Johnson of Clearwater, said Thursday.
"He was in a wheelchair but very alert," she said. "He could not see or hear. But he played cards - so long as somebody told him what they were."
In 1999, France honored him for his sacrifices in the trenches. Then 102, he stood beaming in his best black suit as Philippe Chatignoux, consul general of France, whispered French into his ear and pinned upon his shoulder an imposing, red-ribboned medal: the National Order of the Legion of Honor.
"We have a duty to remember the war, which killed 8-million people in four years - what should never happen again," the diplomat said at the ceremony at Midway Manor retirement center in Largo, where the old veteran then lived.
"This ceremony is to say how grateful the country of France is for all Americans who came to help. And today it is you we honor, a young man who came to America from Italy and when it was time to make a decision was there to help."
For his part, Mr. De Meis thanked "the government of the United States, a lovely government, the people of the United States, and the people of France who gave us the lovely gift, which has inspired people from all over the world, the Statue of Liberty."
He remembered well the statue on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, and Ellis Island, the reception center for immigrants, when he arrived in 1914 from Cave, Rome. He also remembered getting his head shaved to ensure he had no lice. That almost cost him his first job.
His brother, who had immigrated several years before, whisked him off right after he arrived to interview for a busboy job at the Sherbourne Hotel in Atlantic City, N.J. He got the job but couldn't start work until his hair grew.
In 1917, with World War I raging, Mr. De Meis tried to enlist in the Navy. The Navy turned him down because he had flat feet. The Army, however, took him and made him a foot soldier. For three years he served in the 8th Infantry in Europe.
Wounded by a grenade in France, he developed blood poisoning from shrapnel - a wound that he said may have saved his life. After treatment at hospitals, he returned to his unit to find that it had been annihilated in combat.
After the war, on Sept. 29, 1920, he was sworn in as a naturalized citizen. He became a baker and worked at many hotels along the East Coast. His wife, Sadie, emigrated from Sicily. She died several years ago.
A Catholic and a life member of the VFW Post 1085 in Washington, D.C., Mr. De Meis came to Florida in 1998 from Atlantic City.
Survivors include three other daughters, Rose Marie Caputo, Bradenton, Grace London, Wilmington, Del., and Dorothy De Meis Cass, Boston; 16 grandchildren; and 23 great-grandchildren.
Veterans Cremation & Burial Society, Clearwater, is in charge of arrangements.
He will be buried with full military honors at 10:45 a.m. Tuesday at Bay Pines Cemetery.
- Information from Times files was used in this obituary.